JOIN USNokia's move to quit Russian market will affect 2,000 employees
Nokia will pull out of the Russian market, meaning layoffs for the some 2,000 staff the Finnish telecoms provider has in the country, the company said Tuesday.
The announcement comes a day after rival Ericsson decided to suspend its activities in the country indefinitely.
Hundreds of mainly Western companies have announced the suspension of their activities or their departure from Russia since the invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and the severe sanctions imposed upon Moscow.
Nokia, which stopped deliveries to the country in early March, "can now announce that we will exit the Russian market," the mobile telecoms giant said in a statement.
"It has been clear for Nokia since the early days of the invasion that continuing our presence in Russia would not be possible," CEO Pekka Lundmark said in a post to Twitter.
Nokia has 2,000 employees in Russia, including about 200 working with research and development, a spokeswoman told AFP.
"Unfortunately in these circumstances redundancies are unavoidable. However, for certain roles that can be done outside of Russia, we will offer relocation," Maria Vaismaa, Head of Public relations for Nokia, wrote in an email.
"The safety and wellbeing of our employees is our priority and we aim to manage this change in an orderly manner," she added.
The move will result in a provision of €100 million ($108.6 million) in Nokia's first quarter accounts, due to be published on April 28, the group said.
Russia accounted for less than two per cent of Nokia's 2021 net sales and the group said it was maintaining its financial forecasts for 2022 "considering the strong demand we see in other regions."
On Monday, Swedish rival Ericsson announced an indefinite suspension of its operations in Russia and said it would put its 600 employees on paid leave.
The departure of the two Western heavyweights in the global 4G and 5G market clears the way for China's Huawei in Russia.
Huawei has been shut out of new networks in the US and many European states as Western officials voice concerns its technology could be used as a Trojan horse for Chinese espionage -- accusations the company rejects.
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